Kimberly Cernak

Kimberly Cernak serves as the Managing Director of The Eleanor Crook Foundation. Prior to joining ECF, Kim served as the Senior Director for Global Policy and Advocacy at 1,000 Days. In that role, she led the organization’s work to educate and influence global policymakers and stakeholders to increase action and investment in maternal and child nutrition and, serving on 1,000 Days's senior leadership team, focused on the organization's management, funding, and operations priorities. Kim also spent two years as the Deputy Director of Friends of the Global Fight, where she provided leadership, direction, oversight, and coordination in the day-to-day operations of the organization’s policy, communications, and development efforts. Kim previously served for six years at USAID and at the U.S. Department of State, most recently serving as Deputy Director of USAID’s Policy Office. In this position, she worked to define and shape the agency’s policy agenda, including overseeing efforts around ending extreme poverty, the post-2015 development agenda, and key issues of national security and foreign policy. Additionally, Kim served as the Development Advisor to the Special Representative for Burma at the U.S. Department of State, where she formulated and implemented a development assistance strategy for the U.S. government’s programs in Burma. In 2010, Kim held the position of Special Assistant to Deputy Secretary of State Jacob J. Lew, serving as an advisor and representing the Deputy Secretary on a wide range of policy issues, including overall policy direction and development of the Global Health Initiative and strategic issues related to the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator. Before her time in the federal government, Kim worked with community organizations in New Orleans, Thailand, and Indonesia. She is a fellow of the Truman National Security Project.